


Can I get uhhhh

by Sakura_no_Umi



Category: Shaman King (Anime & Manga)
Genre: F/M, also featuring Tamao unironic writes out her emojis, and Yoh is me when it comes to coffee, coffee shop AU, featuring terrible wingman Hao, where literally no other customers exsist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:27:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25052401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sakura_no_Umi/pseuds/Sakura_no_Umi
Summary: Hao just wanted a source of free coffee. Yoh just wanted to finish his Soul Bob collection. Then the most amazing person he has ever seen walks into the shop and Yoh just wants her to not hate him and maybe go on a date.A story of young love told over the course of four mornings in the coffee shop.
Relationships: Asakura Hao & Asakura Yoh, Asakura Yoh/Kyouyama Anna
Comments: 11
Kudos: 28





	Can I get uhhhh

**Author's Note:**

> Caveat: This was originally posted as four parts over the course of two years, but is now compiled into a single one-shot. So if the flow feels weird between sections or different that is why. Also now improved with hopefully maintaining present tense the whole time

Yoh can’t say that he knows anything about coffee. It’s more of his brothers thing anyway, but the atmosphere in the coffee shop is relaxing, and he needs the money to complete his own personal collection of Soul Bob’s works. It also doesn’t hurt that the girl who just walked has stolen his heart at first sight. Her cellphone is poised at her ear and she shows no intention of stopping her conversation anytime soon. Without even tilting her phone from her face she stares directly at him and places her order.

“Grande Iced Caramel Macchiato.”

He blinks at her. The coffee lingo that flows so smoothly off her tongue leaves a jumbled mess in his brain. It isn’t his first day per say, but he also hasn’t brushed up on everything as much as he should have. Hao had assured him the job would be easy, but maybe he should have known better that his brother would say anything so he had a source of discounted coffee.

The girl immediately continued her conversation after placing the order and was paying him no mind, until she suddenly turns to him mostly likely in his response to staring. She’s pretty and he can’t help it. The stare she gives him is withering and clearly conveys the question, “Are you an idiot?”

His cheeks burn, and he fumbles to start the order; however, she must have noticed that he is about to do something wrong because she abruptly talks into her phone while giving him a piercing stare, “I’ll have to call you back.”

“What are you doing?” she asks, tone biting.

“Just, um, making your coffee,” Yoh stammers.

“Really?” she asks, raising a brow.

“Failing at making your coffee,” he corrects.

“And how did you get hired? I’ve been coming her for the past two years, and the service has never been this abysmal.”

“My brother likes coffee,” he offers, pathetically.

“And so does ever person on the planet except you apparently. Have you ever been in a coffee shop before now?”

“Yes,” he defends.

“Besides for an interview?” she asks, skeptical.

“I’ve gotten coffee before. It’s just more bitter than I prefer. Besides it’s just a part time job, I don’t need to have a degree in it.”

The corner of her lip twitches up in the barest approval of his retort.

“Tell you what, Yoh,” she says her eyes scanning his name tag quickly, “You have my usual ready for me tomorrow and I’ll forget this faux pas ever happened and that I had to go down the street for my coffee.”

“So what’s your usual?” he asks with a smile.

She laughs at him in reply, “And if you don’t figure this out, well I’ll have a chat with the manager about how a long time customer is dissatisfied with the new service.”

“Well I at least need a name to place on the usual.”

“Anna,” she states before turning on her heel, phone already in hand and number dialing.

Yoh leans against the counter one hand propping his head up as he sighs and watches her go.

He has never been interested in coffee before, but now he has the motivation to learn everything he can before tomorrow. He’s already texting his brother to come to the shop immediately when he spots a scrap of paper laying inconspicuously on the counter. The words ‘iced caramel macchiato’ are neatly printed on it. Today he got her coffee order, maybe tomorrow he’d get her number.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Hao wasn’t quite sure how he got roped into helping his brother at the coffee shop. He had strategically talked his brother into taking the job solely so Hao wouldn’t have to put in any effort to ensure a source of good cheap coffee. However, he couldn’t turn down his twin who had called him up moaning his life would be over if he didn’t figure out all this coffee stuff immediately. Okay actually his brother hadn’t cared about half the menu he had cared about one drink, and he cared about Hao being there the following day at a time earlier than he could have ever wanted to be up willingly.

“Why couldn’t you just do this yourself? I showed you how to make it yesterday,” Hao asks, hair pulled back into a ponytail as he leans with his back against the counter and arms crossed.

“Because if I mess this up I’ll never live it down,” Yoh replies, “I think she comes in at 8:30 on the dot and it has to be to be ready and perfect.”

“And this one order is going to determine if you keep this job or not? ” Hao askes, raising an eyebrow the ‘really?’ implied.

“It’s not about the job, Hao,” Yoh replies, with a huff, “I don’t even know why I let you talk me into this,” he finished, with a mutter.

“Because me without proper caffeine is your nightmare,” Hao supplies, with a smirk.

“Listen, I have to take care of something in the back. Just make sure it’s ready and it’s perfect, and I should be back before she gets here.”

With an eye roll that no one has the fortune to see, Hao sets to work doing his brother’s stupid job. The drink is easy enough to make, and he scribbles the name “Anna” on it messily just to be facetious. Yoh said the coffee had to be perfect but not that the name had to be legible or arguably right.

At 8:30 precisely the bell above the door jingles, and Hao stands a little straighter. He keeps the smirk to himself. His brother, that sly dog. He has good tastes to say the least, and she did look like she could kick Yoh’s ass if he screwed up, but that wasn’t saying much. His brother is a pushover. A light breeze could knock him over.

If Hao was a good brother he would have called for Yoh, but Hao is still mad at being dragged into the coffee shop no matter how valiant the cause.

“Um, Ama?” Hao asks, squinting at the scrawl and pretending he doesn’t know full well what it says.

“Amazing it came in a pack of two incompetent baristas,” she drawls, picking up immediately on their differences.

“You wound me thinking I don’t know my way around a coffee shop. Just because my brother doesn’t have sophisticated taste does not mean my palate is poor.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” she replies, motioning for her drink.

Hao raises an eyebrow, “Miss, I may not work here but if I give you this drink for free that means I will not get my free drink. It took a lot of convincing to arrange this, and I can not have you benefiting from the fruits of my labor.”

With an eyeroll she droppes the coins onto the counter before holding out her hand and setting her face into a stern look that clearly asked ‘are you happy now?’

“Pleasure doing business with you, Ama,” Hao drawls.

“Tell your brother if you give me my coffee tomorrow there will be hell to pay,” she answers, as she turns to walk out of the shop without a look over her shoulder.

The door closes behind her with the same jingle as Hao leans on the counter head propped up in his hand. Okay maybe it had been worth it to get up for this.

“What happened back there?” Hao asks, hearing the swish of the back door.

“I got nervous, and then I knocked some things over,” Yoh replies with a sheepish laugh hand going to scratch the back of his head.

“Ama wasn’t too happy. She said she’s gonna kick your ass if you make me give her her coffee again.”

“Hao you didn’t. You didn’t seriously call her Ama. What part of this couldn’t you read?” Yoh asks shoving the piece of paper with all the details in his face, “And why didn’t you tell me she was here? You made her hate me didn’t you.”

“Nah I made her happy I don’t work here instead. So I’m gonna take my free coffee for the day as payment, and you’re not gonna drag me in here tomorrow,” Hao answers, mixing up a warm beverage.

“My life is over,” Yoh moans.

“Stop being melodramatic. The more you avoid her the more she will definitely hate you. Also don't be giver her my coffee. I earned that privilege and I will not share no matter how much you like her. She can kick you ass, but I will make you life a living hell 24/7 if you deprive me of this caffeine.”

  
  


* * *

  
  


It's day three of working the counter at the coffee shop. The first day, he had spectacularly failed and made a fool of himself in front of the prettiest girl he had ever seen. The second day, he had dragged his brother into some weird wing man attempt, but chickened out and hide in the back room. Today, he's on his own and he can’t afford to mess it up. If she leaves hating him a third day in a row than she is probably going to hate him for the rest of his life.

The grande iced carmal macciato sits on the counter with the name “Anna” written in the most artistic calligraphy he could muster. Okay that's a bit of a lie. He’d gotten Tamao to write the name on it because with how much his hands would have been shaking it would have come out as chicken scratch. Bless his adoptive little sister that she was able to swing by this morning on her way to class to do him this huge favor.

He watches the seconds tick by on his watch as it inches even closer to 8:30. He's hoping he's timed it out perfectly so that it will be ready for Anna as soon as she walked in, but not have been sitting out so long that it's no longer the perfect temperature.

With a jingle the door opens and Anna walkes in. Instinctively, Yoh stands straighter grabbing the cup ready to hand it to her.

“I see Tweedledumber decided to stay home today,” Anna says, with a smirk, as she crosses the distance.

“Hao wasn’t exactly happy I dragged him out of bed for the help yesterday,” Yoh replies, with a nervous laugh.

“I could tell by his stunt with my name. If he was trying to be cute tell him it didn’t work.”

Anna took the offered cup studying it intently in her hands. Her eyes narrowed at the intricacy of her name on the cup, but she remained silent taking a sip of the drink before passing her final judgment.

Yoh’s fingers began to tap nervously on the counter awaiting her verdict. He knows he’s done something wrong by the look in her eyes but hopefully it was a transgression that can be forgiven.

“The coffee is passable, although I’m loathe to admit Tweddledumber’s was better.”

Yoh lets out a sign of relief.

“But I don’t know which is more pathetic. Tweddledumber’s purposeful misspelling of my name to be petty, or you trying to use another girl to impress me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Yoh lies, unable to meet her gaze.

“This,” she points a finger directly at her name, “screams high school girl writing her crushes name. Besides it looks nothing like what you’ve scrawled on your name tag these past three days.”

“So maybe I asked my little sister to write your name on a cup for me when she swung by to get her own drink this morning before class.”

Anna raises an eyebrow as she took a sip of her drink.

“Okay, so I promised her a free drink if she did this for me.”

Another long sip.

“Which I wouldn’t have had to do if Hao hadn’t decided to screw around when he wrote your name down yesterday.”

A glance down at her watch.

“Which wouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t hiding in the backroom because I was nervous,” Yoh admits, cheeks burning.

“Adorable,” Anna states, with an amused look and a knowing smirk like she's going to use this against him in the near future.

“Well since the drink wasn’t complete trash like I was afraid it was going to be I suppose I can forgive you today. But, honestly, stop trying to rope your family into helping you. It’s pathetic and extremely unappealing. I’ll give you one more try tomorrow,” she finishes flashing her phone at him as she turns to head out the door coffee in hand.

Yoh sighs resisting the urge to bang his head on the counter. Every time he tries not to screw it up he just ends up screwing up even more. At least she's giving him another change, and this time he's going to do it right. He has to. He isn't sure how many more seconds chances she's going to give him before she walks out that door for good. Although the fact that she keeps coming back and giving him hints has to mean she wants him to succeed, right?

  
  


* * *

  
  


It's eight in the morning and over two dozens grande size to-go cups sit on the counter each with the name “Anna” in varying form of legibility and attempts at fancy calligraphy as Yoh tries to get his shaking hands to make at least one decently. At least he can fill all the rejects with Hao’s daily free coffee and not be chastised for allowing perfectly good merchandise to go in the trash because he's incompetent at writing one name.

He’s finally gotten one that he likes in perfect black sharpie, and sets it aside before grabbing another cup to recreate it. The odds of him somehow screwing up the order are high, and even if he doesn’t well he’ll be set for tomorrow’s order. Yoh’s face pales. Hao is never going to keep up with all his rejected cups at this rate.

Taking a deep breath to clear his mind helps steady his hand allowing the next attempt at “Anna” to come out flawlessly. Okay maybe he can do this. Keep calm. Don’t think about how gorgeous Anna is, or how miserable he will be if he manages to make her hate him forever. There was no Hao, no Tamao, just him and he can do this.

He places the two perfect cups under the counter until it's time to brew her drink before pushing open the door to the back room. He finds an empty box and brings it out to the front counter. Picking up the black sharpie he marks the box “Cups for Free Coffee” and begins to stack the rejected Anna cups neatly inside. Once packed he nestles the box under the counter before brushing the imaginary dust off his hands in the air. There, all the evidence is hidden and hopefully there is nothing for her to criticize today.

He wipes down the counter one last time just to be safe as the clock tickes closer to her arrival.

He begins to make her drink at the same time he did yesterday, as she hadn’t commented on it being too hot or cold. Hopefully, that had meant he’d done it right. He doesn’t expect her to tell him when he does something right because with all his screws up he probably hasn’t earned that right from her yet. And if he's wrong about yesterday, well he’ll find out today.

Drink made. No catastrophes. He just has to act natural as the seconds ticked down to 8:30. He first tries leaning on the counter head propped up with one hand, but that feels too blasé. He switches to standing up straight, posture perfect but that feels like he's living in fear which isn’t exactly a lie. What if he grabs a broom to look busy, but then she’ll probably think the drink was cold when he hands it to her.

It is with his hands gripping his hair in frustration that the door chime tinkles as Anna makes her entrance. Yoh freezes, eyes wide, before quickly bringing his hands down at his side.

She greets him with a nod, placing the exact change down on the counter and picking up her drink. She scrutinizes the writing first turning the cup this way and that.

“Yours I presume, but definitely not the first try. Still and improvement from Tweedledumber’s attempt at being cute, or your little sister's love confession.”

Next she lifts the drink to her lips taking a sip as she contemplates the flavor.

“Same taste as Tweedledumber’s,” Anna notes, eyes narrowing

“He’s at home sleeping, I promise,” Yoh answers, frantic hands waving in front of himself. “But I did have him help me some more yesterday since mine wasn’t as good,” he finishes, sheepish.

“He’s not one to hid silently, or at all, so I believe you did this on your own today. The temperature is perfect so it’s not like you smuggled this here from your house.”

“It’s, it’s perfect,” Yoh stammers, cheeks heating up.

“Oh you think that’s something to be proud of?” Anna asks, leaning in with a smirk. “In three days you went from not being able to find your way out of a paper bag to setting a very high standard for yourself. I will not tolerate a single coffee being below this level now that I know you aren’t incompetent.”

“You really don’t celebrate even small victories do you,” he grumbles under his breath.

“I’m not heartless,” she replies, taking a sip, “I just expect a high level out of those I surround myself with. Make sure you clear your schedule for Friday evening, and you can pick me up from this address around 7,” she finishes slipping him another piece of paper. “Ringo Awaya is playing and I’ve already bought two tickets. You can reimburse me for them and buy me dinner. It’s a date after all, and I only date perfect gentlemen.”

“See ya,” she calls over her shoulder as she walks out the door, and Yoh can almost swear he saw her wink at him.

Yoh stands in awe behind the counter before pulling his phone out and hitting speed dial. Five rings later Hao picks up with a very grumpy “you better be dead or dying to call this early, I swear to God.”

“I got a date,” he replies and is immediately met with the dial tone.

Three minutes later he gets a text from Tamao that reads, “Hao says he’s going to burn everything you love for waking him up that early for “stupid fucking Ama” but congrats on the date winky face”


End file.
